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EVENTS

Six unmissable events happening around Germany in June 2024

As summer kicks off in Germany, so do a number of festivals across the country. Here are a few of the events in June to keep in mind as you make warm-weather plans.

Published: 27 May 2024 11:49 CEST
Updated: 2 June 2024 05:31 CEST
The Bach monument in front of the St Thomas Church in Leipzig.
The Bach monument in front of the St Thomas Church in Leipzig. The Bachfest starts June 7th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Hendrik Schmidt

After all of the public holidays in May this year, June may feel like a heavy one for work. 

All the more reason to make the most of your weekends.

Fortunately, between Euro 2024 (for the football fans) and music festivals featuring a wide array of genres, this June offers plenty of possibilities for enjoying your free time.

Here are a few June events you wont want to miss:

May 31st – June 2nd: Eurofolk Festival

Kicking off a day ahead of the beginning of June this year is the annual Eurofolk Festival in Ingelheim in Rhineland Palatinate.

Musical performances by groups representing world folk traditions (including American, Greek and Irish folk music, for example) are scheduled in the afternoons and evenings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As well as workshops on various folk traditions and hobbies such as juggling, drumming, handicrafts and an herb hike.

According to the event website, this year’s most anticipated act will be the Ukrainian folk group Yagody.

Note that ticket sales on-site will be cash only, but you can pay electronically for presale tickets online. 

June 7th – 16th Bach Fest

For fans of classical and choral music, Leipzig’s Bach Festival offers open air concerts at the city’s main market as well as performances in the historic St. Thomas Church and other venues.

Monument of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach in front of St Thomas Church in Leipzig

Monument of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Hendrik Schmidt

Named for one of Germany’s most famous classical composers, Johann Sebastian Bach, festival attendees can expect to hear the kind of music that he spent most of his life composing, such as choral cantatas.

Hardcore Bach fans can purchase a festival pass for €77, or you can buy tickets to individual concerts. While you’re there you can also consider checking out the Bach museum.

Starting June 14th: Euro 2024

One of the biggest events taking place across Germany in June is the UEFA European Football Championship, also called Euro 2024.

A total of 24 European national football teams will be competing in a series of matches in venues around Germany for one month, with the first match (Germany versus Scotland) kicking off in Munich on the 14th.

With 2.7 million fans expected to come out to see the championship matches, the event is sure to be felt by residents in all of Germany’s major cities, whether you are a football fan or not.

football at Berlin's fan zone

The Euro 2024 football on the turf in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. Berlin’s ‘fan mile’ will be the largest public viewing area for the games in Germany. (Photo by Jens Schlueter / AFP)

READ ALSO: Euro 2024: What you can expect in Germany during Europe’s biggest football frenzy

For those in Germany, you can likely find a public place to watch the matches live, even if you don’t have tickets to the games. For example, in Cologne a ‘Football Village’ will be set up in the Altstadt (Old Town), for local fans to watch and celebrate games together.

In Berlin, Straße des 17 Juni in Tiergarten will be transformed into the “fan mile”, which is to be the largest open air venue for live screening Euro 2024 in Germany. The capital city’s most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate is to be made to look like an enormous football goal for the occasion, and matches will be projected on it.

The final match will be held in Berlin on July 14th. 

June 21st: Fête de la Musique

June 20th marks the summer solstice this year, meaning that the 20th and 21st have the longest daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere – and also mark the beginning of summer, from a geographic perspective.

On this occasion, Berlin’s Fête de la Musique offers those in Germany’s capital a chance to “celebrate the longest and most musical day of the year together”.

Fête de la Musique is basically a crowd-sourced outdoor music festival where local musicians perform at local venues around Berlin, and plenty more spontaneous acts can be found in the city’s streets, parks and public spaces as well.

All of the performances are completely free and will take place throughout the day and into the evening.

Fete de la Musique drums

A group performs the folkloric dance movement form “Candombe” and music from Uruguay in Berlin-Schöneberg as part of the Fete de la Musique. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

June 26th – 30th: Fusion Festival

The Fusion Festival (often depicted in Cyrillic letters as Фузион) is a renowned music and arts festival that takes place every year at a former military airfield in Lärz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany.

With a focus on collective action, the event can be viewed as a social experiment in utopian communism, and has become an iconic event in the European festival scene. It’s also known for its quirky atmosphere and eclectic music lineup.

concert at night

June has a number of music festivals. Some of the momre popular ones, like Fusion Festival, can be quite a spectacle. Photo by Danny Howe | Unsplash

As well as a diverse musical programme from renowned artists and underground talents, the festival also hosts numerous workshops and discussions.

Festival tickets are available for €220, and Sunday tickets are on sale for €60 – both come with a €10 ‘trash deposit’ as well. There is also a portal in the website to a message board where ticket holders can sell or swap tickets, should they sell out.

June 28th – 30th: Hamburg Harley Days 

Harley-Davidson’s festival, ‘Harley Days’, includes a motorcycle market as well as live music and will take place on Banksstrasse at the end of June.

bikers at Harley Days fest

Participants ride their Harley-Davidson motorcycles across the event site at the Hamburg wholesale market during the first day of Harley Days. Harley Days is Europe’s largest inner-city biker gathering. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt

Guests can take a gander at classic motorbikes as well as the latest Harley models, or take one for a test-ride. A custom bike show is held on Saturday, and on Sunday there is a motorcycle parade through the city.

The event also promises to have a stunt show, a BBQ-focused food court, and tattoo booths.

Children and minors up to 18 years old can enter the fest for free, and there is free admission for all on Sunday the 30th. One or two day adult tickets (for Friday and Saturday) are available on pre-sale for €11 or €20 respectively.

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CULTURE

Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

A tongue-twisting German rap about rhubarb has become the latest unlikely musical hit to storm the internet, racking up millions of views and inspiring a viral dance routine.

Published: 19 June 2024 09:06 CEST
Barbaras Rhabarberbar: How a German tongue-twister became an unlikely viral hit

The song by musical comedian Bodo Wartke was first posted on YouTube in December 2023, but took off earlier this year thanks to a dance video made by two Australian students.

In May, the track briefly reached number 12 in the TikTok music charts, ahead of US R&B superstar Beyonce.

The charm lies in the song’s tongue-twisting title, “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” (Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar) — a bit like the German equivalent of “She sells sea shells”.

The song tells the story of Barbara, a woman famous for her rhubarb cakes who decides to open a bar in her village.

As the song goes on, Barbara is joined by an ever-growing cast of people whose names add to the tongue-twister — such as barbarians and barbers.

Wartke, 47, teamed up with German content creator Marti Fischer to make the video, the two men taking turns at the microphone to recite the tricky lyrics.

47 million views

Wartke is delighted with the unexpected success of the song, though he admits he doesn’t actually like rhubarb very much, “except when it’s made into a crumble or jam with strawberries”.

“Even in our wildest dreams, we could never have imagined such success,” said Wartke, who has been performing as a cabaret artist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for 27 years.

“Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar” has racked up more than 47 million views on TikTok and has been translated into several languages.

It has also inspired all manner of copycat dance videos, including underwater, on ice skates and on rollerblades.

Wartke, who performs comic songs on the piano, once wanted to be a German teacher and has a penchant for a linguistic challenge.

He has recorded several other songs based on tongue-twisters, such as “Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische” (“Fisherman Fritz catches fresh fish”).

“Until now, I always thought I was talking to a German audience. I thought you had to understand the meaning to appreciate it,” said Wartke, who grew up in northern Germany but now lives in Berlin.

“But apparently this kind of alliteration combined with hip-hop has an appeal beyond the meaning of the words,” he said.

READ ALSO: 8 German tongue-twisters to leave your mouth in knots 

Image problem 

Wartke hopes the song will do something positive for the image of the German language around the world.

“Lots of people think that Germans have no sense of humour, don’t know how to have fun and that German is an aggressive language,” he said.

“Now they’re reconsidering their prejudices, which I am delighted about. People write to me saying that our song has made them want to learn our language.”

As if to dispel any last perceptions that Germans are serious and boring, Wartke and Fischer have posted a video of themselves doing the dance, with Wartke wearing a pink suit.

“Dancing is not our speciality at all, we had to do a lot of practising,” he said.

Buoyed by their success, the duo are thinking of taking a Barbara-based comedy routine on tour to non-German-speaking countries.

“The songs would remain in German but we would present them in English,” Wartke said.

There has even been talk of the Eurovision Song Contest — and with Germany having finished in last place in 2022 and 2023, Barbara could only raise the bar.

By Céline LE PRIOUX

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